UK Retail Sales Rise; Barclays CEO Pay Under Scrutiny

Arthi Gupta
11 Apr, 2012
New York City

The UK indexes closed higher led by mining and banking stocks. UK retail sales and Irish construction activity and sentiment climbed in March. Barclays was in focus of excessive chief executive pay.

[R]4:00 PM London – The UK indexes closed higher led by mining and banking stocks. UK retail sales and Irish construction activity and sentiment climbed in March. Barclays was in focus of excessive chief executive pay.[/R]

The UK indexes gained following the market rebound in Europe and in early U.S. trading. UK retail sales rose more than expected in March.

In London, the benchmark index FTSE 100 gained 45.56 or 0.8% to 5,640.53 and the pound edged higher to $1.5919.

European markets were on the upswing and overlooked the less than expected demand for German bond auction and Spanish industrial production declined 5.1% in February.

Barclays Plc was in focus after investor advisory group Association of British Insurers sent out an alert and highlighted excessive compensation for the bank’s chief Bob Diamond totalling £15 million. The note to investors highlighted the size of the pay and the Barclay’s decision to pick up £5.7 million tax bill.

UK Retail Sales Rise

Retail sales in the UK increased in March, according to a report from the British Retail Consortium released today.

Retail sales rose 1.3% on a like-for-like basis in March from a year ago month following a 0.3% drop in February. On a total basis, sales edged higher 3.6% in March compared to a 1.9% rise in March 2011.

Irish Construction Activity, Sentiment Climb

The Irish construction sector climbed in March, a survey by Markit Economics showed today.

The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers'' Index, a seasonally adjusted index designed to track changes in total construction activity, rose to 46.7 in March from 45.8 in February.

Separately, Irish consumer confidence rose to 60.6 in March from 57.0 in February, a survey by KBC Bank Ireland/ESRI showed today.

Gainers & Losers

Mining companies gained. Kazakhmys rose 2.1% to 871.5 pence, Rio Tinto climbed 1.9% to 3,368.50 pence, and Antofagasta surged 3.9% to 1,114 pence.

Lloyds Banking Group surged 3.4% to 30.81 pence, HSBC climbed 0.5% to 539.80 pence and Standard Chartered gained 0.6% to 1,490.50 pence.

BT Group PLC, the communications services company fell 2.5% to 213.20 pence after a broker downgrade.

Michael Page International Plc declined 3.4% to 43840 pence after the recruitment firm reported first quarter gross profit rose 6.8% to £136.0 million from £127.3 million in 2011.